Child custody: child abuse and safety.

Existing law governs the determination of child custody and visitation in contested proceedings. Existing law requires the court, for purposes of deciding custody, to determine the best interests of the child based on certain factors, including the nature and amount of contact with both parents, and consistent with specified findings, including that the court's primary concern must be to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the child. Existing law prohibits the ordering of family reunification services as part of a child custody or visitation rights proceeding. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to establish judicial training programs with instruction in all aspects of family law for those who perform duties in family law matters and in domestic violence for those who perform duties in domestic violence matters. This bill would specify that prohibited ordered family reunification services include reunification therapy, treatments, programs, workshops, or camps that are predicated on cutting off a child from a parent with whom the child is bonded or to whom the child is attached. The bill would require the Judicial Council's family law training program to be designed to improve the ability of judges and others who perform duties in family law matters to recognize and respond to child abuse, domestic violence, and trauma in all family victims and to make appropriate custody decisions that prioritize child safety and well-being and are culturally responsive. The bill would require the Judicial Council's domestic violence training program to include child abuse, and would include those who perform duties in child custody and visitation matters in the target audience for that training. The bill would require a judge assigned to family law matters involving child custody proceedings, as well as a judge, referee, commissioner, mediator, child custody recommending counselor, and evaluator involved in child custody proceedings, to participate in a program of continuing instruction in domestic violence, including child abuse.